Penryn Ladies 15 - St Mary’s Old Boys Ladies 49
Penryn Ladies finished off their season in style by putting up a tremendous fight at home against second in the table, St Mary’s. Playing in honour of the team’s first aider, Teri Hughes, who sadly passed away this month, the home side played with passion and determination throughout their last home match and made the visitors work hard for every point.
The visitors got the first run of points on the board through their scrum half and inside centre, who ran the back line impeccable all match, but Penryn Ladies refused to just roll over. With the forwards making some huge individual carries and backs running intelligent lines, Penryn were able to inch their way towards the try line. Eventually, this continued pressure set up the ball nicely for inside centre Hawkins to run round the last defender and score the first home try.
St Mary’s came back strong in the second half as was expected of the side who were close to topping the table for most of the season. They dominated the scrums, which gave them the platform to execute their well drilled moves and move further ahead of the Cornish side. However, spurred on by their vocal home supporters, Penryn ran back at St Mary’s with determination until a turnover ball by scrum half Dennis, from her own tackle, led to a series of penalties in St Mary’s 22, with the final one setting captain and number 8 Hampton up to storm over the line and score Penryn’s second try.
The remaining quarter saw a real battle, with both sides putting in some exceptional tackles and making attempts to break the opposition defence. St Mary’s were more successful in converting their attacks to points to begin with, until a superb solo effort from winger Beynon, who showed her pace and strength to run in from just outside her own 22 and score under the posts, meaning Penryn had been able to put 15 points past a side that had previously only conceded 83 points all season.
This final performance of what has been a tough league for this newly promoted side, shows just how much Penryn Ladies have improved. Each member of the squad has played their part this season, with the more experienced long standing players leading from the front and the newer members stepping up to the challenge. Special mention should be made of winger Denton, who made her starting debut in this final showdown after only a month of playing the sport.
The ladies will be taking a well earned break for a few weeks before a series of summer activities in the build up to pre-season training. The future of Penryn Ladies is looking very bright for next season at the Borough.
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